The full schedule and game times for the 2012 NLCS have been released, so we now know WHEN the Giants will play. We just don't know WHERE the Giants will play.
The suggestion here is that you root for the Nationals, who seem like a slightly better matchup for the Giants (America rooting for Washington aside) than the Cardinals.
Anyway, the schedule:
Game 1 of the 2012 NLCS will take place on Sunday and will begin at 5:15 p.m. PT. If the Nationals win on Friday night, that game will be in Washington. If the Cardinals win Friday night, the game will take place in San Francisco.
Game 2 is on Monday and kicks off (we can say kick off even in baseball right?) at 5:07 p.m. PT.
Again: Washington wins, it's on the East Coast. St. Louis wins, it's on the West Coast.
There's a one-day break between games after that, so teams can travel. Game 3 will go down on Wednesday at 1:07 p.m. PT. What makes this game time interesting is that, regardless of who wins on Friday, someone will be flying into or out of San Francisco following Game 2. Let's say Washington wins (hypothetically). Game 2 would finish around midnight east-coast time, if not a little later. The two teams can fly out after the game or wait until the morning. So they're either landing about 3 in the morning or about 7 in the morning PST. The game's just a little over 24 hours after that. It's a bit hairy.
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Game 4 will be on Thursday at 5:07 p.m. PT.
Now we dive into the "if necessary" portion of the program. Game 5 will be at 5:07 p.m. PT on Oct. 19, presuming that a four-game sweep isn't involved.
Then there's another one-day travel break (yay!), with Game 6 -- once again, if necessary, scheduled for 1:45 p.m. PT on Sunday October 21. (Again, two teams could be flying out of San Francisco and back to Washington here, or potentially flying out of St. Louis and into San Francisco. Quite the haul.)
And Game 7 of the NLCS, if needed, will take place on Oct. 22 at 5:07 p.m. PT.
It's quite the grind, regardless of who the Giants play. But given their experience in the playoffs and with traveling, perhaps the long distance gives them an advantage over other teams.
